San Diego State — Aztecs stellar running back Ronnie Hillman has drawn comparisons with ex-Aztec great Marshall Faulk since he restored pride in the running game.

Faulk left for the NFL after his junior year. Hillman could go as a third-year sophomore. He’s second nationally in rushing at 138.8 yards a game. Clearly, it’s a consideration for him. But he told the San Diego Union-Tribune his focus is on winning the Mountain West championship.

TCU — The Fort Worth Star-Telegram talked to some area recruits who said upcoming Big 12 affiliation won’t play a major factor in their decisions. Gary Patterson has won his fair share of battles with Big 12 schools for Texas talent through the year but the key to his success has been coaching up the three-star athletes left on the table by Big 12 schools grabbing the four-and-five-star prospects.

New Mexico _ The train wreck that was the Mike Locksley era at New Mexico has pulled into the station for the final time.

Every press box wag (guilty as charged) around the Mountain
West Saturday was wondering if Locksley would be fired at halftime of the eventual OT loss to Sam Houston State.

Yet in a move that defined the 2-26 gridiron soap opera, it was revealed the next day that an under-aged driver with a .16 blood alcohol count was driving an SUV registered to Locksley on Saturday.

Get this: the driver claimed to be a recruit.

Another occupant in the car was arrested for being belligerent to the police. She claimed to be the girlfriend of Locksley’s son who is on the Lobos’ roster.

The university denied the driver was a recruit.

This tops off a wilfe ride with two wins (against CSU and Wyoming), a sexual harassment/age discrimination suit; a 10-day suspension for punching an assistant, and numerous garden variety player arrests.

The Mtn. was scheduled to carry the carnage of a press conference.

One positive note for the Lobos: The only non-Colorado State player to earn MW player of the week honors was freshman wide receiver Deon Long who shared offensive award with Ram Chris Nwoke. Long broke ex-Ram Gartrell Johnson’s MW record 378 all-purpose yards.

San Diego State _ Aztecs players were spared from talking to the media after the 28-7 loss to Michigan and former coach Brady Hoke. “They were very emotional after the game, depressed, disappointed, upset, however you want to say,” said SDSU coach Rocky Long, “It was a very emotional locker room after the game and not in a good sense.”

UNLV _ The UNLV-Nevada Battle for the Fremont Cannon will be televised an obscure local cable channel for UNLV fans. There might not be many fans left after Rebels lost to FCS upstart Southern Utah.

TCU _ The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports what while Horned Frogs fans might be divided between the scheduled leap to the Big East and a potential long-awaited Big 12 invite, Frogs coach Gary Patterson isn’t changing his tune. “You better be loyal to the Big East,” he said. “And before that, be loyal to the Mountain West.”
So much for Mountain West
loyalty.

Wyoming _ The biggest crowd in Wyoming history is expected for the 5:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday with No. 9 Nebraska so the Wyoming athletic department is urging fans to arrive early.

It’s impossible to get there too early. The parking lots and will call windows will open at 8 a.m. With a turnout of red expected by Nebraskans, Cowboys fans are urged to wear gold.

New Mexico _ Deon Long, one of the few bright spots for the winless Lobos, has been added to the Biletnikoff watch list for the nation’s top wide receiver. The transfer from West Virginia is second in the MW with 88.3 yards a game.

San Diego State _ Rocky Long didn’t know where he would find any receivers going into the year. Colin Lockett, a sophomore who wasn’t listed on the pre-season two-deep, was added to the Biletnikoff watch list Friday. He is third in the MW with 84.7 yards a game.

TCU _ Now that Dan Beebe is out as Big 12 commissioner, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports there may be new interest by the league in the Horned Frogs. Beebe had said he was only interested in new TV markets. TCU’s Big East, destination, meanwhile is most uncertain.

The Fort Worth school has only tried to get into the Big 12 since the Southwest Conference dissolved in the mid 1990’s.

UNLV _ Daniel Harper, one of those fifth-year transfers who already has his degree from another school, is starting to make an impact at safety for the Rebels. He graduated from USC and wasn’t a big Lane Kiffin fan.

“I wished (Kiffin) all the best, but I’m a grown man now, I’m a college graduate, and sometimes you have to make adult decisions, and this is one of them,” Harper told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

It will be a week of chatter about former San Diego State coach Brady Hoke hosting his former team. His hand-picked successor, Rocky Long, said “They know our personnel a lot better than we know their personnel, so I think there’s a huge advantage,” Long told the San Diego Union Tribune.

Hoke took, among others, ex-offensive coordinator Al Borges and former Colorado State assistant and offensive line coach Darrell Funk.

In other Axtecs news, running back Ronnie Hillman shared Mountain West offensive player of the week honors with Boise State’s Kellen Moore. The two combined for nine TDs.

Suffice to say, it will be an interesting race for player of the year.

UNLV — After an 0-7 road effort a year ago, UNLV is the first Mountain West team to get the 2011 season underway tonight at No. 10 Wisconsin (6 p.m.MT, ESPN).

“We’re playing two BCS conference teams on the road (at the beginning),” second-year coach Bobby Hauck told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “It sure would be nice to get off to a good start, but that’s a pretty tall order for a team that has not played well on the road.”

The Rebels travel next week to Washington State. Although Wisconsin fans boost for the local Las Vegas coffers, UNLV’S future schedules with be ramped down with the likes of Utah State and Louisiana Tech.

• San Diego State. The Mountain West is continuing its annual battle with Time Warner Cable to get The Mtn. to an estimated 200,000 subscribers in the northern part of San Diego Country.

“We feel the angst of the San Diego State fan,” MW commissioner Craig Thompson told the San Diego Union-Tribune .

• UNLV. Caleb Herring, a third-year sophomore, was named to UNLV’s starting QB job over Saddleback College transfer Sean Reilly.

Herring came off the bench in eight games and threw for 365 yards and four TDs with three picks last season.
The Rebel open the season Sept. 1 at No. 10 Wisconsin.

• New Mexico. Aside from B.R. Holbrook’s four TD passes, he and Austin Tarean had virtually identical passing statistics in Saturday’s scrimmage. Tarean was the leading rusher for the day with 43 net yards and a long of 48 yards.

UNLV. Add Rebels coach Bobby Hauck to the list of coaches who ban their players from using Twitter. When top receiver Phillip Payne was critical of the first-year staff in 2010, Hauck suspended him for two games.

UNLV finished 2-11 last year. The Las Vegas Review Journal is reporting Hauck, a former Colorado assistant, is getting a two-year contract extension (with no raise) through 2014.

TCU has only been trying to get in that league since the Big Eight gobbled up part of the old SWC.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported: Gary Patterson said he hasn’t paid too much attention to the reports that Texas A&M may leave the Big 12 for the SEC. But what did raise an eyebrow was a Big 12 source telling The New York Times that if A&M left and the league wanted to add more schools, TCU wouldn’t be of interest.

“To me, that just goes to show you they don’t like great football,” Patterson said Saturday “It’s just amazing to me. I’ll leave it to those guys who think they know all they need to know about football.”

Boise State – The firing of Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier, father of the blue carpet, is going to get messier and messier. Now Boise State president Bob Kustra told the Idaho Statesman that Bleymaier had the option of resigning. Bleymaier said “Fire me.”

Kensler joined The Denver Post in 1989 and has covered a variety of beats, including Colorado, Colorado State, golf, Olympics and the Denver Broncos. His brush with greatness: losing in a two-on-two pickup basketball game at Ohio State against two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.